LES PROFESSIONS 

VOLUME TWO BOOK EIGHT

LA CHRONOLOGIE 

1831-1853 Student
1838-1942 Newspaper business
1938-1943 Musician
1941-1942 Grease monkey
1942-1943 Air raid warden
1943-1943 Western union telegraph
1943-1944 U.S. mail special delivery
1944-1946 Soldier
1934-1997 Artist/painter
1950-1951 Entrepreneur/importer
1950-1997 Auto mechanic
1853-1956 Art material purveyor
1955-1997 Corporation president
1955-1997 Art materials manufacturer
1955-1997 Corporation president
1955-1997 Art materials manufacturer
1954-1957 Art school and gallery director
1959-1959 Director arts in America
1955-1963 Director arts in Louisville
1855-1997 Writer
1955-1997 Graphic designer
1955-1963 Magazine /gazette publisher
1955-1963 Letterpress printer
1956-1963 Linotype operator
1955-1963 Typographer
1957-1963 Restaurateur
1963-1964 Automobile designer/builder
1964-1976 Sports car racer
1964-1976 Library consultant
1984 -1985  Architect /builder
1955-1997 Inventor
1975-1997 Machinist
1992-1997 Computer graphic designer

 

THE PROFESSIONS OF LEO WRYE

Covering more than sixty years of chronologic over-lapping, the multitudinous and mixed careers of Wrye will be given but brief definition in this book eight of volume two as more detailed information might possibly or more likely be uncovered somewhere elsewhere in other chapters dealing with more specific areas of absurdity

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1931-1953 STUDENT

If being a student for twenty years is a profession it then should be mentioned here elementary school, junior high school, high school, college, universities, and art schools.

1938-1942 NEWSPAPER BUSINESS

Extracurricular activities, which could qualify as pseudo-professions, were engaged in during this space-time sequence. The newspaper business actually involved about four years of predawn distribution of some 140,000 courier journals undeterred by neither rain sleet, snow, wind, nor baseball-sized hailstones, prior to the curricular activity. In the pm after the curricular activity an extremely short period of employment in the grocery-trade was investigated for its career potential, but was found wanting.

1938-1943 MUSICIAN

At the age of fourteen, Wrye was importuned upon to take up the piano and the horn so as to savor the finer things in life. There are to this day a no-longer   touched grand piano in his front hall and a golden trumpet in his upstairs closet. Sic transit Gloria -. Stints of before and during and after school band and orchestra rehearsals from junior high school through his first year at college taught him something, it must be assumed, able it he did secure several auspicious positions in the U.S. military as a bugler during the great war of the forties because of his previous prowess and experience.

1941-1942 GREASE MONKEY

Grease -monkeying after school at a big downtown garage had its benefits during the early days of extreme gasoline rationing, (four gallons a week for your gas-guzzler), – there always seemed to be a way around extreme privation. It was here and then that automobiles and tools and machinery made their first real impact on Wrye, a fascination to last a lifetime

1942-1943 AIR RAID WARDEN

The air-raid warden profession, a position of vital importance and national security, was engaged in strategic boyle county, Kentucky, located four thousand miles   from Germany, and god only knows just how far from the japs, to prevent axis bombings of the civilian population. Besides the sticker on the windshield entitled. The warden to a larger gasoline ration. It must be celebrated as a unmitigatedly successful tour of duty, as not a single bomb fell upon Danville during his watch.

1942 -1944 STUDENT STILL

After returning to Louisville from centre college in Danville, after his successful tour of duty as warden, Wrye, because of a difference of opinion between him and the college over the veracity of Christianity and its efficacy in winning basketball games through the required daily attendance at 7:30 am prayer convocations, he enrolled in a bit more secularized institution, the local university of Louisville. He was, at the time, a student not hotly pursuing a course of study called pre-medicine, and was accepted by the medical school of that university for the fall of 1944.

1943-1943 WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH – U. S. MAIL

As another clever ruse vis a vis the ration, he secured a temporary position with the western union telegraph company for the delivery of telegrams on the night shift. His plan was to use this morbid job of delivering military death notices edged in purple to parents and wives as a spring board to a much better job with the united states post office‘s special delivery mail system. (unlimited gasoline and tires.) He soon was carrying the mail, lots of it, a hundred pieces a night, fifty miles every night on empty city streets all over town good practice experience for a slalom race car driver later on down the road.

1944-1946 SOLDIER

Upon completion of the pre-med course, Wrye realized he was not really interested in medicine at all in fact he was revulsed by the whole bloody business. He was making better than passing grades in the science classes on the artistic appeal of the beautifully illustrated notebooks which he was producing without a computer.

butchering cats just didn’t cut it.

On the twenty-second of April 1944 Wrye joined up. Read about it in the chapter named “military” volume one, book three, chapter four.

1934-1997 ARTIST / PAINTER

The next profession covers more than sixty years artist and painter. This is the backbone profession which supports and molds and colors and gives meaning and cohesion to all the others. The depths and heights and effects of Wrye’s art experience are scattered through the whole of this archival opus. A more detailed narrative is to be found in the cogito art chapter.

1950-1951 ENTREPRENEUR/ IMPORTER

The next profession listed by its Chronologicality is that of entrepreneur / popcorn importer. Covering but one year in France when Wrye hit up on the bright idea of importing popcorn into the gourmet capitol of the world. An elaboration of that harebrained adventure is probably found in volume one, book three, chapter six, page six.

1950-1957 AUTO MECHANIC

It was during this amusing popcorn business affair that the necessity for auto mechanicking became crucial. The fledgling popcorn company had purchased a 1934 Morris van for delivery etc. Service. This voiture was sixteen years worn-out and had seen service, not only civilian but both French and German military as well, as was evidenced by paint layers. Artist Wrye soon accumulated experience in maintenance and repair and replacement on every kind of moving and non-moving part on that marvelous British vehicle. His grease-monkeying background had served him well. See and read about the Morris in the auto section, volume two, book six, chapter one.

1953 -1956 ART MATERIAL PURVEYOR

The profession of artist’s material purveyor was an effort to make art materials more available to Louisville artists, including artist Wrye himself, at respectable prices. Being in the purveying business of the artists material business afforded Wrye the eureka! Opportunity to notice that there was no proper product on the market for cleaning artist’s brushes. Eureka! The silicoil brush cleaning tank was invented, (which see volume two, book nine, chapter two,) and Wrye became a manufacturer of art materials and a corporate chief executive officer (A C.E.O.) all of a sudden.

1954-1957 ART SCHOOL AND GALLERY DIRECTOR

The profession of director of the society for the arts in Louisville devolved and evolved from an art gallery/art school establishment established by Wrye dating to 1953 upon his return from France to Louisville where he found an almost near vacuum of art and art activity taking place everywhere. The society out grew from these plastic art beginnings when it embraced the other neglected art disciplines in concerted consternation. The new arts organization prospered, grew, and needed a home. At the arts in Louisville house (which see) Wrye armed with food and drink licenses, assumed reluctantly still another profession -that of barkeep / restaurateur, which is a whole another story told elaborately elsewhere in volume three.

1955-1963 THE SOCIETY FOR THE ARTS IN LOUISVILLE

The next profession on the list, that of director of the societies for the arts in America and the society for the arts in Louisville gets a lot of press in other chapters in this archival collection, especially in the volume three, book two, section where some seven chapters are filled with pages check out the introductions pages for discussions of the director profession.

1955-1997 WRITER GRAPHIC DESIGNER – COMPOSITOR

The profession of writer as a profession owes its origins to the arts society director business aforementioned above. With magazines to publish and art societies to promote it just seemed kind of necessary to Wrye that he become a writer. And being a writer and a publisher it made sense to take up the professions graphic designer, and typographer. This led to the inevitable acquisition of foundry type, a linotype machine and a genuine printing press which added the professions of linotype operator and letterpress printer.

1963-1964 AUTOMOBILE DESIGNER / BUILDER

The next title automobile designer and builderprofession dates to the year 1963 when Wrye found out that in. Just being an artist-painter, a manufacturer, a society for the arts director, a publisher and printer among other things, just wasn’t enough to keep him busy. Upon the frame of an English ford he built a streamlined, what was called by others, a “Fyootcha cah.” read about and see in the auto section of volume two in the chapter named chimera.

1964-1976 SPORTS CAR RACER

Having built his first race car, it naturally was only inevitable that wrye would race it and build a succession of even faster others (which also see in volume two, chapters three and four specifically).

1955-1997 INVENTOR

The entry on the professional chronology list “inventoris various enough that probably the creative tools chapter of book three this volume two would be the place to refer. Invention is the mother of something.

1964-1976 LIBRARY CONSULTANT

The entry on the professional chronology list “library consultant” came about over an extended period dating as far back as fifty-seven. The library needed a staff artist primarily to make signs and posters. The pay was so low that no one wanted the job. Wrye volunteered to print signs on his printing press as an outside contractor. From that simple beginning accretion set in. Wrye eventually would become contract director for the whole Louisville library system’s department of physical facilities as is greatly expanded upon   in the next chapter following. (which also see).

1984-1985 ARCHITECT/ BUILDER

The entry on the professional chronology list architect builder is restricted to one event only, the construction of the studio building up against the former studio building on the sixth street property, the winter of ‘b4-‘b5. Details of that adventure are detailed in book two of volume two, (which also, also see, s’il vous plait.)

1975 -1997 MACHINIST

The entry on the professional chronology list “machinist” is vague enough that it deserves at least deferential expositing. Specifically, a true machinist makes chips.hammering upon metal or twisting metal or welding metal and other metal mayhem is not considered machining. Technically Wrye was a machinist when he drilled his first hole, but not until he collected drill presses, milling machines, and lathes was he worthy of the esteemed title, probably about 1975. With this chip-making array Wrye began a full scale design and invention period culminating in a lot of stuff. –  see created tools section in tools book three, volume two.

1992-1997 COMPUTER GRAPHIC DESIGNER

The entry on the professional chronology list “computer graphic designerprobably should not qualify as a profession as computer graphic designing was not being done as a profession, but was being done more as a research project into the potential of the digital color computer as a creative tool for making art. The research confirmed its potential and excellence as such a tool.

LIBRARY CONTRACT

Contractual services were rendered for the Louisville free public library beginning as early as nineteen fifty-seven. Here reprinted is a copy of the last contracted affiliation in which Wrye ensnarled himself within the physical facilities of the real world. Half a year later he retired into his own private oblivion.

AGREEMENT: MARCH TWENTY-NINE, NINETEEN SEVENTY-SIX

Between the Louisville free public library and the lion company, Inc., Leo Wrye, president. The undersigned, lion co., Inc., acting under contract with the Louisville free public library, herein agrees to assume responsibilities for the following functions within the Louisville free public library system.

1    MAINTENANCE

  1. Contractor agrees to inspect, designate and supervise all painting required throughout the system for its buildings, interior and exterior, selecting colors, paint quality and type, and methods of application and will maintain a regular schedule of proper protective maintenance for all exposed exterior surfaces open to deterioration.
  2. Contractor will design and supervise the fabrication, assembly, finishing and installation of all new shelving units, display furniture, counters, racks, cabinets, etc., as required by the various departments and agencies.
  3. Contractor will supervise the repair and refinishing of all damaged library furnishings with an end to return to service all reparable pieces.
  4. Contractor will maintain emergency repair service for incidental and minor repairs and replacements such as broken glass, unhinged doors, frozen locks, loose downspouts, lamp replacement, etc.
  5. Contractor will inspect, recommend, and authorize repair or replacement of property or equipment when repairs required are of a more substantial nature through contracting with licensed electricians, plumbers, roofers air conditioning engineers, tree services, general contractors, etc. And will assist in advertising for bios when required
  6. Contractor will oversee the annual recharging of all fire extinguishing equipment and will make general inspections of library property in the interests of fire protection and prevention
  7. Contractor will assume responsibility for all power tools, hand tools, and maintenance materials and equipment property of the Louisville free public library its care, maintenance and security.
  8. Contractor will assume responsibility for the performance of all maintenance personnel, employees of the library and outside contractors, and will act for their replacement when and if necessary.

2    CUSTODIAL SERVICES

  1. Contractor agrees to assume the general responsibility for all custodial duties as required by the library system. These are to include regular dusting, cleaning, polishing, waxing, etc., of all floors, walls, furniture, equipment, glass, woodwork, marble, brass, etc. Care of grounds, shrubs, lawns, trees, flower beds, etc., and maintenance of proper settings for heating and cooling equipment as required; and any incidental labor such as messenger service, materials handling, loading and unloading, snow removal, etc.,
  2. Contractor will interview, recommend for hire and if necessary for discharge all custodial personnel. He will instruct personnel in the proper. Janitorial techniques, the use of special janitorial equipment or materials  
  3. He will inspect and maintain quality housekeeping service throughout the system, either with library personnel or contracted janitor services, whichever is more efficient.
  4. Contractor will maintain work schedules for all custodial personnel and   assign their various tasks and duties.
  5. Contractor will oversee securing personnel engaged by the library to   insure proper and effective service.

3     SUPPLY

  1. Contractor will establish and oversee a department of supply which will stock, deliver, and furnish library materials, office materials, janitor supplies, and general maintenance materials for the entire library system.
  2. Contractor will assume responsibility for inventory control system for all supplies in supply department and will maintain a sufficient stock on hand of all regularly required articles.

4      MOTOR POOL

  1. A. Contractor will assume responsibility for the operation of the library’s vehicles, their maintenance on a regularly established schedule, their repair by competent mechanical firms when required, and the purchase of tires, tubes, and other equipment when needed.
  2. Contractor will assume responsibility of scheduling all deliveries and other uses of library vehicles by library driver personnel.

5      PURCHASING

  1. Contractor will act as general purchasing agent for the Louisville free public library in all areas of buying excepting those library materials purchased by the order dept. viz: books, periodicals, records, films, tapes, etc.
  2. Contractor will select all merchandise or services on the basis of quality, price, suitability and will regularly examine and verify the continued excellence of all materials and services contracted for.
  3. Contractor will maintain a purchase order system for all purchases and service orders and will verify all invoices and statements from suppliers and contractors before their delivery to the business office for payment.
  4. Contractor will assist in type selection and typographical layout and design of all printed forms, catalogs, letterheads or other printed material as required by the library.
  5. Contractor will serve as printing production agent in processing all printed material in the most efficient and economic manner from typesetting, paper stock selection, proper printing methods, through subsequent handling, such as folding, binding, die cutting, etc.

 

6     ART AND DESIGN

  1. Contractor agrees to act as supervisor of staff artist and designer, the designing of displays, signs, catalog covers, printing, and any other decorative materials, to assist in the evaluation and procurement of any art work purchased by the library and its proper framing; and in the selection of colors and decoration of buildings interior and exterior throughout the system

The contractor will act at all times in the best interests of the Louisville   free public library in purchasing, designing, and general maintenance, to effect the most efficient operation of the physical plant and facilities of the library system

The contractor will act at all times in the best interests of the Louisville free public library in purchasing, designing, and general maintenance, to effect the most efficient operation of the physical plant and facilities of the library system.

In consideration for the execution of the above named duties and responsibilities the Louisville free public library herewith agrees to pay to the lion co. The sum of $836.47 per month payable upon the 15th of each month for services rendered.

This contract will be renewed automatically annually unless either party gives prior notice to the other in writing three months previous to the date of its intended renewal.

This contract may be terminated by either party by 30 days’ written notice.